Pierre Jonckheer

Pierre Jonckheer (born 5 May 1951) is a Belgian economist and politician, member of the Belgian French-speaking Green party, Ecolo.
He grew up in Wallonia and Brussels and studied Economics at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL). During his studies he became an activist in student movements linked to the "Third World" as well as the left radical political movement. He graduated in 1974 and became an assistant professor in the department of Economics of the Catholic University of Louvain. He then worked closely with different NGOs and in 1982 spent 3 months in Sri Lanka where he discovered the dismal working conditions of the Tamils. From 1984 to 1991, Pierre Jonckheer worked as a researcher, for OSE then became its director (European Social Observatory). In 1986 he joined Ecolo and in December 1991 he became provincial senator and in 1995, led the Ecolo list for the Senate. During his 8 years as senator, he specialised in European politics. In 1999, he was elected to the European Parliament and was re-elected in 2004. In 2008, he co-founded the Green European Foundation (GEF).

In the Belgian Senate, Jonckheer was a member of the European Affairs Committee. During his years as a MEP, he played an important role in the EGP as Co-President of the Green Group responsible for the relations with the EGP. In 2008, Pierre Jonckheer co-founded the Green European Foundation and is today its Co-President. The foundation focuses on research, training and publications on Green European issues and organises working seminars and panel debates.

Pierre Jonckheer was first elected as first substitute on the European Election list of 1989. This was his first experience of a political campaign. Hereafter, he was designated by Ecolo as provincial senator in 1991. Three years later, he led the Ecolo list for the Belgian Senate and was then directly elected. He was the President of the Green Group at the Senate as well as member of the European Affairs Committee. He also participated in the Enquiry Committee of the Rwanda Genocide.

In 1999, Pierre Jonckheer was elected to the European Parliament and joined, among others, Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Paul Lannoye. He was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and of the Internal Market Consumer Protection Committee. He played an important role in the debates of the Service Directive as well as on the European Constitutional Treaty.

Since 1973, Pierre Jonckheer has been a professor in further education universities, ISCO, CERGECO and FOPES.